Huawei under pressure for more local jobs in South African court action
- Government case claims Chinese telecoms giant has breached employment laws, with 90 per cent of its work force from overseas
- The revelations have fuelled critics who say China business interests in Africa are failing to create local employment
In a legal first, South Africa’s labour department is suing Huawei’s South African operation for failing to meet the country’s employment laws, with foreign workers making up 90 per cent of its staff, instead of the stipulated maximum of 40 per cent.
The revelation has caused uproar from locals and politicians in a country with a 34.9 per cent unemployment rate, and fuelled critics who say many Chinese companies bring workers with them from China instead of using locally sourced labour on construction and manufacturing sites.
The South African labour department said its case against Huawei, which opened in court on Friday last week, would “send a strong message to other employers” that “the department is on their tail and consequences will be incurred if non-compliance is discovered”.
The department is seeking 1.5 million rand (US$100,000) – 2 per cent of the Huawei South Africa unit’s 2020 turnover – for the alleged breaches. It also wants the company to implement an employment equity plan to redress the status quo.
The case was prompted by an audit of the company carried out by the department in 2020 which established nine out of 10 of its workers were foreign nationals.